Types of Truck Accidents in Florida
Federal Regulations in Florida Truck Accidents
There are many types of truck accidents in Florida. They can be caused by a number of factors and can occur in various ways. Trucks have blind spots which can result in a motorist who is not seen by the trucker. Tractor-trailers have more than one blind spot, which makes driving beside or near one a dangerous proposition. Another cause of accidents is when a truck swings wide to make a turn, which can lead to colliding with passenger cars next to them or unseen cars attempting to pass on the other side. Trucks can also cause accidents when braking or when braking equipment fails. If you or a loved one have been involved in any type of truck accident in Florida, contact our experienced Fort Lauderdale truck accident lawyers today for a free consultation about your case.
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Understanding Various Factors Involved in Truck Accidents
When trucking equipment is not routinely inspected, the risk of mechanical failure rises. Because they need a longer distance to stop, a commercial truck’s braking system is in vital need of responsible maintenance. Trucks that haul cargo can be improperly loaded or overloaded. The more weight a truck carries, the longer the distance required to stop and the more easily the truck can roll or jackknife. Trucks carrying cargo involved in accidents can cause oil spills, chemical exposure, and highway debris which can cause further accidents.
Other accident causes can be speeding, especially in reduced-speed zones for trucks, texting and driving, drug and alcohol abuse on the road, driver fatigue and overlong work schedules, poor training, bad weather or road conditions, and malfunction of equipment due to poor truck maintenance and inspections.
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Get Legal Representation from a Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer
You should never negotiate with a trucking company in the aftermath of an accident but seek qualified legal representation from an attorney who is familiar with such legal cases. At Ace You Case, P.A., a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer can provide the experienced and aggressive help you need with over 30 years of combined legal experience. We can fight vigorously on your behalf to obtain the full and fair compensation you deserve in the wake of injuries connected with such an accident.
Let us use our legal skills on your behalf in investigating and documenting your claim as well as aggressively negotiating with trucking companies and their insurance representatives. Contact a personal injury lawyer in Fort Lauderdale to learn more and schedule your free initial consultation today!
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Plantation Personal Injury FAQs
When Is It the Right Time to Call a Personal Injury Lawyer?
The right time to call is as soon as possible after your accident. There are many reasons why you need to begin the legal process as quickly as you can. The legal process may even begin without you, with many calls from the insurance company trying to either rush you or to pressure you to give a statement. They may try to catch you unaware and trick you into compromising your legal rights. Hiring an attorney could prevent this from happening.
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Equally important, as time passes from the time of your accident, the evidence that could help your claim can become harder to find. People might quickly clear the scene of the accident, and you may lose the ability to contact witnesses. The witnesses that you have may begin to lose their recollection of what they saw. When you hire a personal injury lawyer, they will get to work immediately to gather the evidence before it is lost.
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Calling a lawyer to get started on your case is a crucial step in the legal process. Knowing that you have someone on the job with the experience and tenacity to fight for you can give you at least some peace of mind during an undoubtedly difficult time.
How Do Insurance Settlement Negotiations Work?
An insurance claim is just like any other negotiation. You have a number in mind for what you think that you should receive for your injuries, and the insurance company has a much lower number in mind for what it wants to pay. Your insurance claim begins when your Plantation personal injury attorney files a demand letter with the insurance company. This is when the adjuster goes to work to try to save money for their bosses.
The insurance adjuster may outright deny your claim or question liability. They may come back with a settlement offer. When the number seems low, and it will, know that this is just their opening offer. Your Plantation injury attorney will likely reject the offer and respond with your own demand.
Eventually, you will lower your number, and the insurance company will raise theirs, and you could meet somewhere in the middle. This is a time-honored dance that personal injury lawyers have been doing with insurance companies since the advent of courtrooms. Even when you seem very far apart from the insurance company, most cases eventually will settle.
What Happens After I File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Filing a personal injury lawsuit is an early part of the claim process. Most cases will never go far enough to see the inside of a courtroom. Statistically speaking, a vast majority of personal injury cases are settled out of court. However, if your case does make it to court, you should expect going into it that the trial process may take one to two years to complete. The legal system is far from rushed, as courts and judges have busy schedules and full dockets.
In the short term, you can expect motions and attempts to obtain evidence. Many people associate a lawsuit with a trial, but that only happens after many months of the nuts and bolts of the legal system. The phase of your case that will take the longest time is discovery. This is when the two sides obtain evidence that the other has in their possession. At this point, you may even need to sit for a deposition.
Filing a lawsuit will not cut off settlement negotiations. As was previously mentioned, most cases will settle without a trial. If anything, litigation may give each side more incentive to settle. The two parties usually continue negotiating right up until the point when the jury is seated.
What Evidence Can Prove My Injury Claim?
Negligence is the basis of every personal injury claim. When you file a lawsuit in court, you have the burden of proof. It will be up to you to show that what you say is more likely than not to have happened. You need to back your claim up with evidence.
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Your Plantation personal injury lawyer will work to gather things that can backup your side of the story, including:
— Witness statements from people who say your injury or accident
— Pictures of the scene of your accident
— Security camera footage
— Expert witness testimony that could reconstruct the accident
— Maintenance logs of the area or vehicle involved
— Medical records that can help prove damages
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These are things that can be difficult to get on your own and piece together to tell the story of what happened. Injury lawyers in Plantation, Florida, know how to both get the evidence and use it to prove that someone else was responsible for your accident.
What if I Cannot Work Due to My Injuries?
Your personal injury damages include both economic and non-economic compensation. Economic compensation aims to pay you back for the actual money that you lost. This includes bills that you paid and earnings you lost. This specifically pays you back for lost wages from your job when you are unable to work. Since you would have worked, this is money out of your pocket.
Lost wages in a personal injury settlement are much broader than you think. Of course, this includes the time that you have already missed from work. It also encompasses time that you will miss from work in the future. You do not need to outright miss work to receive compensation for this. For example, if you were qualified for a promotion but cannot get it now because your injury limits you in the type of work that you can do, you can get compensation for the reduction in your earning capacity.
Lost wages are often a very contested part of your personal injury claim because you can bet that the insurance company will see things differently to try to lower its bill. They may dispute what your possible earnings are or use a lower rate of inflation to calculate what they may be in the future.